Rim of Darkness
by phoenixfire1995
Summary: Ten years after the Rift was destroyed, it has reopened, bringing another army of Kaijus to face off against a new army of Jaegers. Lance Phoenix and his best friend Veronica "Cherry Bomb" Timmons are the pilots of the Jaeger, Berserker. Together, they and the seven other active Jaegers must protect the world from the invading Kaijus.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

In 2013, human cities come under attack by the Kaijus, colossal beasts that come to Earth through a portal on the Pacific Ocean floor. To combat them the Pacific Rim nations build the Jaegers, equally colossal robotic war machines. Each Jaeger is piloted by two people whose brains are linked to share the mental load of operating the machine. The Jaegers are initially effective, but many are destroyed as the Kaijus grow more powerful and their attacks more frequent. In 2025, the governments deem the Jaeger program ineffective and discontinue it in favor of building massive coastal walls. The four remaining Jaegers are redeployed to Hong Kong to defend the coast until the wall is completed. Jaeger commander Stacker Pentecost devises a plan to end the threat permanently by destroying the portal with a nuclear bomb.

Pentecost recruits retired Jaeger pilot Raleigh Becket to pilot Gipsy Danger, the Jaeger he and his brother Yancy once operated together. During a mission in 2020, Yancy was killed by a Kaiju while still mentally linked to his brother. Raleigh travels to Hong Kong with Pentecost and begins the process of finding a new co-pilot. Raleigh selects Mako Mori, the director of the Jaeger refurbishment project and Pentecost's adopted daughter. Pentecost reluctantly allows Mako to participate in a test run with Raleigh. During the test, Mako loses control and nearly discharges Gipsy Danger's cannon in the hangar. Pentecost deems her unready for combat and grounds the pair. When two Kaijus attack Hong Kong, destroying two Jaegers and disabling a third, Pentecost is forced to allow them to pilot Gipsy Danger. The Kaijus are defeated.

Meanwhile, Newton Geiszler, a scientist studying the Kaijus, creates a device that allows him to establish a mental link with a Kaiju brain. He discovers that the Kaijus are not wild beasts but cloned living weapons that share a hive mind and fight at the behest of a race of alien colonists who wish to invade Earth. Pentecost demands that Geiszler repeat the experiment on a different Kaiju brain and sends him to Hannibal Chau, a criminal who sells Kaiju body parts on the black market. Geiszler commissions Chau to recover an intact brain. Chau's men investigate one of the fallen Kaijus and are attacked by its unborn offspring, which devours Chau before dying. Geiszler links with its brain and learns that the ocean portal only opens for Kaiju DNA, meaning the bombing mission will fail.

The two remaining Jaegers commence the plan to bomb the portal. Pentecost is forced to pilot the Jaeger Striker Eureka after one of its pilots is injured; Raleigh and Mako pilot Gipsy Danger. Arriving at the portal, they are ambushed by three Kaijus including the largest ever encountered. A violent battle ensues, crippling Gipsy Danger and rendering Striker Eureka unable to deliver the bomb. Geiszler warns the two Jaegers that they must take a Kaiju into the portal with them for the bombing to work, and Pentecost decides to detonate his bomb immediately to clear a path to the portal for Raleigh and Mako. Since Gipsy Danger has a nuclear reactor core they can use it to destroy the portal. Pentecost detonates his bomb, destroying two Kaiju and his Jaeger. Gipsy Danger kills the third Kaiju and uses its body to open the portal. Once inside, Raleigh ejects Mako's escape pod and sets the Jaeger to self-destruct. The Jaeger erupts on the other side of the portal, destroying the invading aliens and the portal. Raleigh is able to jettison his escape pod and travel back before the portal collapses. Mako and Raleigh's escape pods surface safely in the Pacific, and the duo embraced as rescue helicopters arrive.

That was ten years ago. The world has enjoyed ten years of peace, building the walls around the Pacific Rim nations as well as rebuilding the effective Jaegers. On the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the Breach, it reopened and a Kaiju made landfall in Los Angeles, the city I was supposed to protect.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was an early summer morning in Los Angeles, California and many people were driving toward the beach to enjoy the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the Breach. They believed they could swim and frolic in peace under the protection of the Wall, a five hundred foot wall made of titanium-supported concrete. The Wall surrounded every nation that bordered the Pacific Ocean. Many believed the false idea that the Wall could protect them in the case the Kaijus returned, but it proved to have failed once before ten years ago, in Sydney, Australia, and history has proven to repeat itself constantly.

I was sleeping soundly in my bunk, snoring quite loudly; too loudly if you asked my best friend and Jaeger co-pilot, Veronica "Cherry Bomb" Timmons.

I was suddenly woken up by a pillow being swung in my face by Cherry Bomb.

"What the hell?" I questioned her.

Cherry stood there in her fatigues, which consisted of a grey tank top and a pair of sweats. I was shirtless and wearing my own pair of sweats.

"Your damn snoring is annoying Lance," she told me bitterly, crossing her arms.

"So are you when you talk in your sleep," I responded after yawning.

"I don't talk in my sleep!" Cherry protested.

I smirked at her and sat up on the bottom bunk.

"Why don't you wear earplugs then," I suggested.

"_I do wear earplugs_!" Cherry responded.

Only a few individuals and I call Veronica Cherry Bomb or just Cherry. It's a nickname she got when we were in high school together. She brought a cherry bomb and set it off in one of the school's trashcans, resulting in her expulsion, but luckily she was able to pass all the necessary tests to join the Jaeger program. Her fiery, shoulder-length red hair and personality also added to the influence for the nickname.

We stayed most of our time at the Los Angeles Jaeger Bunker with our Jaeger, Berserker; an American Mark-6.

Up in the control room, the head technician, Clifton Collins was drinking a latte while watching the satellite images for the California coast every now and again.

Suddenly an alert shot up on the screen, making Clifton drop his latte.

"Holy shit…," he muttered under his breath as the screen alerted him to a Breach opening up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Then another alert sounded when a Kaiju entered our realm through the new Breach.

Clifton then slammed his hand down to activate a siren throughout the Los Angeles Jaeger Bunker, alerting Cherry and I to the fact that something is wrong.

The other technicians in the control room began alerting officials in the Southern California area to evacuate everyone to Kaiju Bunkers as the Category 5 Kaiju, codenamed Four-Face, began swimming toward Santa Monica.

Cherry and I ran into the control room, still in our fatigues, to see exactly what was going on.

"Clifton, what happened?" I asked the head technician.

"A new Breach just opened up… a Category 5 is heading toward Santa Monica," Clifton told me.

Cherry and I looked at each other.

"Alright, let's suit up!" I ordered.

Cherry and I headed toward the Suit Room, rushing past several workers and technicians who were running around the Bunker. Cherry and I dressed into our Jaeger suits, which were skin-tight leather uniforms that would connect our neural brainwaves to our Jaeger. We stepped inside our Jaeger's head and buckled into the control platforms; Cherry on the right and me on the left.

"Alright, let's go!" I shouted at Cherry.

"Let's go bag us a Kaiju," she responded.

Clifton then activated our Jaeger and the head Cherry and I were in dropped down to the awaiting body of Berserker. The head spun into place and everything lit up around us. The bay doors to the Los Angeles Jaeger Bunker's Shatterdome opened up and Cherry and I moved Berserker behind the Wall.

People on the beach had heard the sirens and were evacuating toward the nearest Kaiju Bunker.

On the other side of the wall, Four-Face was swimming toward us. This Kaiju had a face like two hammerhead sharks were merged together, with one being horizontal and the other being vertically merged. Its massive mouth was centered in the middle of its faces, which had two eyes; one in the front and one in the back, at the end of each face. Four-Face had the body of a reptilian bear-like creature with six trunk-like legs and a stubby tail. As soon as it reached shallower waters, Four-Face began charging the Wall, but stopped when a hundred feet away.

"The Kaiju has stopped," Clifton informed Cherry and me.

"Why did it stop?" Cherry questioned.

"No idea, but Omega Shield up!" I called out.

Cherry and I raised our right arms as did Berserker. A large, red energy shield formed out of Berserker's right arm.

On the other side of the wall, Four-Face's mouth suddenly opened up, causing all four of the thin heads that jutted out up, down, left, and right to move back into the Kaiju's neck. Blue energy cackled from within the Kaiju and it suddenly fired a large beam of blue energy from its mouth. The beam hit the Wall and caused it to explode onto Cherry and me, pushing us back onto the beach, throwing sand and seawater all over the place.

Four-Face looked at us through the destroyed section of the Wall and then threw its entire weight against the damaged structure, taking down another section.

"The Kaiju has broken through the wall!" Clifton announced.

"No shit!" I responded.

"Berserker Sword, go!" Cherry called out as she and I raised our left arms up.

Berserker lifted its left arm up and a sword of red energy extended out of its hand.

"Advance!" Cherry and I shouted.

We charged the Kaiju with the Berserker Sword and Omega Shield at the ready. Four-Face closed its mouth and charged us. At the last second, Cherry and I jumped at the Kaiju, bashing it in the face with the Omega Shield. We slashed downward with the Berserker Sword, cutting into the side of the Kaiju's neck. Blue blood, or Kaiju Blue, splattered out into the ocean. Four-Face suddenly lurched up onto its back four legs and pushed its weight onto our Omega Shield.

The Kaiju outweighed us and started pushing us back onto the beach.

"Switch out for Berserker Blaster!" I called out, cocking my left arm.

The sword faded away and Berserker's left arm retracted in to form a blaster.

"Fire!" Cherry shouted.

A ball of red energy fired from the blaster into Four-Face's flank as the Kaiju pushed us off the beach and into the city of Santa Monica. Kaiju Blue splattered out onto the roadway.

"Fire!" Cherry shouted again.

Another ball of red energy fired into Four-Face, causing the Kaiju to push off us. Four-Face then moved all four of its heads back and opened its mouth wide to fire the beam of energy again.

"Shield up!" I called out quickly.

Cherry and I brought up Berserker's shield and it took the whole beam, but we still got launched off our feet toward Pacific Coast Highway. We skidded on our back across the highway, taking a few abandoned cars out, and landed in the parking lot of a Sears.

We were quick to our feet, but our Omega Shield faded away. That beam drained all of the energy needed for it.

"What do we have left?" I asked Cherry.

"Blaster, Sword, and Ax are all ready to go," she informed me.

"Alright, let's end this," I growled.

We charged Four-Face and grabbed the Kaiju by its top head, wrenching it back.

"Eat this you son of a bitch!" I shouted, firing a ball of red energy into the Kaiju's mouth.

It exploded out the back of the Kaiju's head and it whined weakly before we kneed it in the head. The Kaiju fell on the Pacific Coast Highway and Cherry and I looked at it.

"I think it's dead," Cherry said.

"Wait, remember what Raleigh taught us. _Always _check for a pulse," I responded, firing three shots into the Kaiju's chest, effectively killing it.

"No pulse," Cherry said, smiling at me.

"No pulse," I repeated.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

News of the new Breach and the Kaiju attack spread across the world like wildfire. The United Nations were in frenzy. The citizens of the world were panicking. But we Jaeger pilots were converging. We were ready for Round Two.

"Alright ya Jaeger pilots; listen up!" our leader, Herc Hansen barked at the fourteen individuals in the control room of Head Base.

Head Base was a massive Jaeger terminal that was built to accommodate the new army of Jaegers. It was off the coast of Hawaii and could fly a Jaeger off to any Pacific nation in as little as an hour.

I stood in the back with Cherry standing next to me. We had gotten props for defeating Four-Face handily without any loss of life and little property damage, which was rare for Kaiju attacks.

"I thought the Breach was destroyed!" one of the Jaeger pilots, a Mexican national named Gerardo Juarez barked at Herc.

"Well obviously it has reopened, and from what we now know, it's gonna keep escalating to the point that we all die unless we shut the _fucking _thing off!" Herc barked in response.

"Why don't we just bomb the damn thing again?" Cherry asked.

"Do you have a nuke on ya?" Herc asked.

"I don't need no fucking nuke," Cherry responded heatedly.

"Ah shit," I muttered, clasping my hand over Cherry's mouth as she continued to rant at our commanding officer.

"Alright, now that she's done yappin'. We need all Jaeger pilots to stay here at Head Base until the problem has resolved; everyone but Berserker and Gypsy Danger are dismissed!" Herc announced.

The ten other Jaeger pilots all went off to their respective bunks, leaving Cherry and me along with two other Jaeger pilots.

One of them was a man with short, sandy blonde hair and the other was a Japanese woman with short brown hair with blue highlights and brown eyes.

"Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori," I said, saluting them in respect.

Cherry just stood behind me.

"You're Lance Phoenix. I've seen the broadcasts of your Kaiju fights, Berserker's energy-based weaponry is incredible," Raleigh said to me.

"Thank you," I responded.

"Alright, now that you've gotten to know each other a bit; I'm gonna need to show you four something important," Herc said.

Herc then led us off into his quarters where he opened a hidden door in the back of it.

"Where are we going?" I could hear Mako asked Raleigh.

"I don't know," he responded.

Herc led us down a narrow passageway which led into a holding area with two cells in it. In each cell were a man-sized Kaiju.

"What the fuck is this?" Cherry asked.

"These two are Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb," Herc revealed.

"What the hell happened to them?" Raleigh asked.

"I think I can answer that," a short bald man said.

"Pilots, this is Dr. Christopher Lee," Herc introduced the man.

"Please just call me Chris," Chris responded.

"Tell them everything," Herc instructed Chris.

"Well when these two drifted with the baby Kaiju in Hong Kong, they left themselves vulnerable. Drifting is a two-way streak and that allowed the Kaiju DNA to merge with theirs and turn them into Kaijus," Chris explained.

"Is there anyway to bring them back?" Raleigh asked.

"No, they're one hundred percent Kaiju now," Chris responded solemnly.

"Why not just kill them? Why keep them locked up down here?" Cherry asked.

"Because as they were transforming, they both made us promise not to. They wanted to be studied, not exterminated, so we fulfilled that promise," Chris explained.

I moved closer to the cells with the miniature Kaijus inside when the one that used to be Newton lashed out at me.

"Yeah, fuck you too buddy," I responded.

Suddenly an alarm went off throughout the entire compound.

"That's the Kaiju alert," Herc revealed.

All of us but Dr. Chris ran out of the secret room to the control room to see what the alert was about.

"What's going on Tendo?" Herc asked the head technician.

"It's a Category 5 Kaiju off the coast of New Zealand," Tendo responded.

"Codename?" Herc asked.

"Um… Codename Axehead," Tendo revealed.

"Alright, all Jaeger pilots to their Jaegers! We're gonna outnumber this motherfucker and kill it!" Herc shouted.

Cherry and I ran to our Shatterdome and got into Berserker's head.

"Let's try to kill this Kaiju before the other buzzards do," Cherry suggested.

"Oh with pleasure," I responded.

Axehead was swimming in the Hauraki Gulf east of Auckland, New Zealand. This Kaiju took on a more crocodilian appearance with a long body and tail, short legs, and a long snout that ended in a bony, axe-shaped blade.

Sirens warned the people of Auckland and its surrounding cities to evacuate to the nearest Kaiju Bunkers as Axehead made landfall. The Kaiju climbed onto Tamaki Drive and slammed its lower jaw's axe blade into a car, cutting it in half.

Suddenly the Kaiju heard the sound of helicopters overhead and looked up to see all seven Jaegers being airlifted toward it. The helicopters dropped all seven Jaegers in Hobson Bay.

The Mexican Jaeger, El Diablo, was the first to charge the Kaiju.

El Diablo was a Jaeger of average height and colored red, white, and green. Its head was shaped like a man wearing a sombrero. Gerardo and his co-pilot Rodrigo jumped at the Kaiju, but Axehead jumped to the side, dodging the Jaeger's attack before going back into the water. El Diablo turned to try and attack the Kaiju again, but lost sight of it in the water.

"Does the thermal see it?" Gerardo asked Rodrigo.

Suddenly Axehead bit into El Diablo's submerged leg, causing the pilots to drop to their knees as the electrical surges went through their legs.

"El Diablo needs help; let's get that son of a bitch!" I shouted to Cherry.

We then ran toward El Diablo and the Indian Jaeger, Mangala followed close behind. Mangala was a shorter Jaeger, but had blades on each of its knuckles and was colored green and yellow.

Back at the Head Base, Herc and Tendo were watching the battle unfold when suddenly three more alerts went off.

"Holy shit…," Tendo muttered.

"What's going on?" Herc asked.

"It's a triple-event," Tendo said to him.


End file.
